The Read(file, type, num) command reads num elements in type format from a file and returns them in the form of a list.

The following are valid values for type: , , , , , .  These types represent hardware data types. The  is an  byte integer, and  is an  byte float.

The byteorder argument is the only valid optional argument for the Read command. The byteorder argument can have one of four values: big, little, network, and native.  This effects the order in which bytes are written for multi-byte data types.

- big and little specify big endian and little endian respectively

- network specifies network ordering (big endian)

- native uses the native byte ordering

If byteorder is not specified, it defaults to network.

If file is the name of a file that has not been opened, Maple attempts to open the file before attempting to read the data.

An error is raised if file is not a valid descriptor or if it is the name of a file that does not exists.